


Loosen Up

by Persiflage



Series: Skoulson RomFest [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Episode Related, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Phil Coulson, POV Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Phil Coulson Human Disaster, Prompt Fill, Skoulson RomFest 2k15, Sleepy Cuddles, Spooning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-17
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:39:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3182399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye does her best to help Coulson to loosen up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loosen Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayryn/gifts).



> Written for the Skoulson RomFest 2k15 Day 6 (January 17) prompt: Loosen Up. Some dialogue's borrowed from the episode 'Heavy is the Head' (2:02).

"Sir, I need to get back out there and help May take him down," Skye says, and Coulson's response is an unequivocal "No", not that he expects Skye to leave matters there – this is Skye, after all, the woman who would put a bloodhound on a scent to shame for determination.

"She's my SO. I'm a field agent now, and I can handle myself."

Coulson's not surprised that she thinks he's impugning her abilities, but he's really not. 

"That's not what this is about," he tells her, hoping she'll believe him because it's important to him that she doesn't think he doubts her capabilities – he knows from May's reports that Skye has become a formidable agent.

"Then what is it about? The object? The symbols? Because I can't help if I don't know what's going on."

He moves around his desk to give himself a little more time. He's unbearably touched that she's so desperate to help him, even without knowing why he needs help. And he knows very well that by keeping her in the dark on this he's hurting her, and that he's risking impairing their relationship permanently if, or more likely when, she does find out what he's hiding from her, but it's still too much of a risk to tell her.

"If you'd like to help, go down to the bunks, pack up Hartley's things," he says. He knows she'll do that job, and she'll do it respectfully because that's the kind of girl Skye is, but he also knows that she'll be aware he's fobbing her off.

She swallows. "Okay." Her voice is soft, and as she turns away, Coulson breathes a silent sigh of relief, but then she turns back again.

"I know you're the boss and you have to compartmentalise everything," she tells him, "but it's not healthy. You need to loosen up." Coulson swallows as an image flashes into his mind of Skye helping him to do just that. "Try – yoga – or something." 

She crosses to the door, as Coulson tells her, "I tried it, but I'm really not flexible." Skye goes out and closes the door as he thanks her, and he thinks about how pathetic he's become that he's reduced to talking to a door.

He wishes he could talk to Skye. He is tempted to go after her, to call her back, and tell her exactly what's going on with him – but it's only a momentary thing. Temptation is not something he can give in to, at least not without risking Skye as well as himself. But he wishes that he could, just once. He wants Skye back in his life – he wants her steady friendship, her companionship. He knows May will look out for him because they've been friends for a long, long time, but May's priorities are not the same as Skye's – May will worry about Phillip Coulson, the Director of SHIELD, first and foremost, whereas Skye would worry about Phillip Coulson, the man. She's never made any secret of the fact that people matter more to her than concepts or organisations even though those do have importance for her.

He sighs and moves back around his desk, his thoughts heavy and aching for a release from the tension of keeping secrets from Skye.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"He's changed," May says as they watch Fitz and Mack across the lab.

"We all have. Even the Director," Skye observes.

"Coulson has a lot on his plate, rebuilding SHIELD."

"I wouldn't know," Skye tells her SO. "He's not exactly the sharing type these days."

She hears May sigh softly as the older woman moves to stand in front of her. "He has the world to worry about, not just us. Not just the team."

Skye gazes back at her. "That's not it, May. I have been watching him for months and I know he's keeping something from me, and I know it's not just because he's the Director of SHIELD. I think something is wrong with him."

"Skye." May's tone is full of warning, but she ignores it.

"No, May, be honest. Is Coulson okay?"

"Of course." 

Skye looks at her SO, then shakes her head slightly. "Well, next time you see him, tell him – " She pauses, then shakes her head again.

"Tell him what?" asks May, sounding curious.

"Never mind." She turns and walks away from the lab, wondering if there's some way to help Coulson that he won't reject. 

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson's not too surprised when May comes knocking on his office door around dinner time. He tends to eat in his office – not only because it means he can work and eat, but also because it minimises the amount of time he has to spend near Skye. He doesn't like cutting her out, hates it to tell the truth, but he can't risk whatever's happening to him affecting her and the less contact with her he has, the safer she should be – or so he hopes.

"Here." May sets a tray down on the corner of the conference table.

"I'll have it over here," he tells her.

"I think you'd better come over here," she tells him, and he lifts his head at the odd note in her voice. 

"What's happened?" he asks worriedly. "Is Skye – "

"She's fine, Coulson, but she's been asking questions again. She knows you're not yourself any longer, and she's worried about you. Not that she's the only one," May adds quietly, but not so quietly that he can't hear her.

He sighs heavily, drawing his hand down over his face, then pushes up from his chair and crosses to the conference table as May sets out two plates of food.

"What did she say?" Coulson asks. He had thought May was capable of deflecting even Skye's curiosity.

He begins to eat and listens as May repeats her conversation with his younger agent. "So, what, you think I should just tell her everything?" he asks.

"Not everything, perhaps," May says. "But something, maybe? I just don't know how many more times I can fob her off." She sighs. "You know how determined she is."

He almost snorts. "Yeah, I know."

"She loves you, Phil," May says baldly.

"What?" He gives her a disbelieving look.

"C'mon Phil," May says impatiently. "Not even you are that oblivious."

He scowls. "You're mistaken."

"No, I'm not," May says with great emphasis. 

He shakes his head and finishes his meal. "Well, whether she does or not – and I don't believe she does – it doesn't matter. I'm not going to tell her anything about what's happening to me. It's just too risky."

May sighs heavily. "On your head be it."

"What does that mean?" Coulson asks sharply.

"Just that I'd rather not be in your shoes when she finds out. You know how she feels about being lied to."

"I'll live with it," he tells her. "But you're not to say anything to her."

"Fine. I won't say a word, but this is gonna come back to bite you on the ass, Phil."

She gathers up their dinner things, then goes out and Coulson scowls down at the tabletop for a moment, then pushes to his feet and crosses the office to lock the door.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

It's about three hours later when there's a knock on his door, and he sighs, then gets to his feet and goes to the door.

"Skye."

"Coulson." She gives him a very pointed look and after a moment he steps back and allows her in, then he closes the door behind her.

"What is it?" he asks. She's got a battered leather satchel slung from one shoulder and he wonders where she found it, and what it holds.

"I've come to help you loosen up," she says.

He sighs loudly, then turns back to the door, intending to open it again so she can leave. "No."

She ignores him, walking over to the leather couch and sitting down. "Yes."

"Skye." He glares at her, and she folds her arms over her chest, her expression defiant.

"I want to help," she says fiercely. "And you won't tell me what's going on. So, I've come to help in the only way I can that doesn't require you to break whatever oath of silence you've sworn."

He frowns. "I haven't sworn an oath of silence."

"Then tell me what's going on," she says promptly. He shakes his head and she sighs. "Well, I'm not leaving any time soon, Coulson, so unless you want to call May and Mack in here to drag me out, you might as well come and sit down, and let me do what I came for."

It's his turn to sigh now, but he knows that it'll be easier to give in to her on this than to do anything else. He has no desire to humiliate either of them by having Mack and May haul her out, and he isn't at all sure he could force her out bodily – and he suspects that would be one act she could never forgive.

"Fine." He walks across to join her and sits down. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing complicated," she says and gives him a tentative smile. When he simply stares at her she huffs, then elaborates, "I've brought some relaxing music for you to listen to, and some massage oil."

"No," he says hastily. "Not massage."

She puts her hand on his forearm, resting it there so lightly he can barely feel its weight. "AC," she begins, and her use of the old nickname brings a painful lump to his throat. "I know you have bad memories associated with massage because of Project TAHITI, but it can help you. A lot."

He wants to get up and go back to his desk; he wants to order Skye out of his office; he wants to hide somewhere that the nightmares won't find him; but he swallows down the terror, then whispers, "Okay."

She squeezes his forearm, then tells him to take off his jacket, tie, shirt, shoes and socks. He quirks an eyebrow at her and she flashes him a grin, and despite himself, he smiles back. She gives him a cushion from the couch and directs him to sit on the floor with his back against her legs, and he does as she asks, thinking that he must never let her know just how much he likes her telling him what to do.

Once he's settled into position she clasps his shoulders, then begins to massage them and he has to bite back a moan at the sensation – it's not so much that he's beginning to grow aroused (although he is) as that simply being touched by Skye is pleasurable. He can already feel some of the tension ebbing out of his muscles, and she's barely started.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"You've got very strong hands," Coulson observes in a hushed voice, his tone sounding almost dreamy to Skye.

She had thought he was lost in listening to the 'relaxing Classics' tracks she'd downloaded onto her iPod for him to listen to, and his words break her from the reverie she's been lost in.

"Do you think so?"

"Mmhmm. I thought that before."

"Before what?" she asks, a little bemused.

"When you pulled me out of Raina's machine," he says.

Her hands still on his shoulders and he twists his head as if trying to see her face, which he can't really do.

"Skye?" The soft, questioning tone in his voice pulls her back from the darkness crowding into her mind at the recollection of what Raina had done to him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." He seems to breathe the words, rather than speaking them.

"For what?" she asks curiously, wondering just what he's apologising for – reminding her of what had been done to him, or something else.

"For shutting you out," he says simply. "For being an old fool."

"Hey," she calls softly: he sounds as if his heart is breaking, and she squeezes his shoulders, noticing how relaxed his muscles feel now, compared to thirty minutes ago. "Come up here." She takes her hand off his right shoulder to pat the couch seat beside her.

"I don't know if I can get up," he tells her.

She chuckles lightly, then eases her legs from behind him and moves around in front of him, offering him both of her hands to help him up.

"Perhaps you should get May?" he suggests.

She shakes her head. "I can manage. I'm stronger than I look."

"I know," he tells her as he takes her hands, and his seem to tremble in her grasp, but she doesn't mention it. 

"Slide your feet back towards the couch," she instructs him, "then push back against the couch while I pull you forward and up."

He obeys, and she gets him up to his feet. He drops her hands immediately to step into her personal space, then wraps his arms around her.

"Skye."

She holds him, rubbing her hand across his back. "Feeling a bit better?" 

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good." She guides him over to the couch and they sit together, his face buried in the crook of her neck. After a few moments she realises he's crying and she tightens her arms around him.

"It's okay, AC," she tells him quietly. "I've got you."

"Why?" His voice is a bit muffled by his mouth being pressed up against the neck of the sweater she's wearing, but she can still hear his question, though it makes no sense to her.

"Why what?"

"Why do you care about me?" He pulls back to look at her, and she reaches out to run her fingertips across his brow, then along his eyebrows, and down his nose, before she lightly clasps his chin. He doesn't seem to mind her touches, which she finds interesting.

"Why do I care about you?" she asks. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I've treated you badly these last few months, shutting you out, hiding things from you."

"True," she agrees, "but that's not enough to stop me loving you, even if I do think you're being idiotic."

He swallows. "May told me, earlier today, that you loved me," he says. "I didn't believe her."

She shakes her head. "Why wouldn't you believe her? I imagine she's known since I went after Raina to rescue you." She cocks her head ." _You_ once told me I wear my heart on my sleeve and my face."

"But how can you?"

She raises her eyebrows. "How could I _not_? You value me. From the beginning, you treated me as someone who could be an asset to you and to SHIELD, not as a problem to be solved, or someone to be dealt with – and that was despite the fact I was Rising Tide. You made me feel like I mattered, not just as an asset, but as a person."

She chuckles. "And then you turned the world upside down to find a way to save me after Quinn shot me, and you climbed through the wheelbase of the Bus to rescue me from Ward. Plus, you risked permanent damage to Lola to get us both off the Bus." She shakes her head. "How could I not love you, Phil?"

"Skye." He sounds like he might cry again, so she pulls him back into a hug. 

"You know it's okay if you don't feel the same way, don't you? I'm not asking for anything from you, other than that you let me help you in any way I can."

"Skye." He's trembling in her arms, and she shushes him, pressing a kiss to his temple. Then she manoeuvres until they're lying on the couch; it's not exactly wide, but with them both lying on their sides, and Coulson cradled against her body, there's just about space for them. 

"Rest," she tells him softly, one arm about his waist, the other across his back. 

He sighs, then settles, and it seems as if he's asleep in seconds, although it's actually a bit longer than that, and after a while Skye feels her own eyes drifting closed, and she figures that a nap won't hurt her either.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

She wakes a couple of hours later to Coulson struggling to disentangle himself from her body, and she has to grab hold of him and call his name several times before he calms down and wakes up. 

"Skye?" He sounds shaken, she thinks, sliding her arms around him.

"I'm here, AC," she tells him, and kisses his forehead. "You were just having a bad dream."

He clings to her, and she rubs his back, telling him that he's safe, and she's got him, and repeating his name.

"Some Director I am," he says finally, sounding a bit more like himself.

"Hey, don't blame yourself, okay," she says. "You're beyond stressed." She sits up, pulling him up with her. "You should go to bed. You'll be more comfortable sleeping there than here."

"Will you – " He stops, and she raises her eyebrows, wondering what he wants. "Will you stay with me? Please?"

"If you think it'll help," she tells him. She slips off the couch, then holds out her hands and he takes them, sliding off the couch and then putting his arms around her.

"I do, you know," he says.

"What, think it'll help?"

"No." He nuzzles at her neck and she feels a flush of heat throughout her body at the gesture. "Love you, I mean."

"Good." She steps back from him to pick up her iPod and puts it on the conference table, and he gathers up the clothes he shed before she gave him a massage. Then she grabs his hand and leads him out of his office, and along the corridor to his quarters. She lets him precede her inside, suddenly feeling shy about entering Coulson's room, even if it's not like that. The fact that he's told her that he loves her, just as she had told him the same, doesn't necessarily mean their relationship is like that, even if she would be happy for it to be.

She casts a quick glance around his quarters, taking in the big bed which looks very comfortable, certainly more comfortable than the couch in his office; a double wardrobe against the back wall; a row of bookshelves on the wall opposite the bed, although there are fewer books than there are pieces of his memorabilia collection stored on them. There's a thick carpet underfoot, and Skye can't wait to take off her shoes and socks, and wiggle her toes in it.

"I'm just gonna use your bathroom," she tells Coulson, and he nods, beginning to deal with his clothes.

When she returns, Coulson's wearing grey pyjama pants and a grey SHIELD t-shirt, and she swallows hard: she's always liked the sight of his bare forearms – whenever he rolls up his shirt sleeves before putting on his Kevlar vest she's been a bit entranced by his arms. 

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asks as she crosses towards where he's standing by the bed.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't," she says. She gestures at the bed. "Which side are you going to take?"

He shakes his head. "You pick." 

"I'll take the far side," she tells him, then removes her shoes and socks, before circling around to the far side of the bed and climbing in. Coulson slips in on the other side, and he looks a little wary, she thinks, so she shifts further towards the middle of the bed and whispers, "Come here."

He moves to meet her in the middle, and she reaches up to stroke her thumb over his cheekbones, then along his jaw.

"You're pretty handsome," she tells him. "Kinda like an old Hollywood movie star."

He ducks his head slightly and she sees a flush on his face. She's slightly amused, but also touched, by his reaction. "What, has no one ever told you that before?" she asks.

"No." His voice is a bit husky, and he clears his throat before looking up at her. "I think you're gorgeous."

"You do?" He nods, and she feels flattered. "Thanks."

"Will you hold me, Skye?"

She slides her arms around his torso, and rests her forehead against his. "Like this?"

"Yes. No."

She chuckles a little. "What would you prefer, Coulson?"

"That you call me 'Phil', in here," he says.

She gives him a wide-eyed look, then nods. "Okay, Phil."

He gives her a brilliant smile that makes him look less tired, somehow, then he says, "I want you to spoon me."

"Okay." She loosens her arms, and he rolls over onto his right side, and Skye shifts in behind him, tightening her arms again.

"Go to sleep, Phil," she tells him softly. "I've got your back."

"You always have," he mumbles, and she smiles against his shoulder – he sounds half asleep again, she thinks.

"Don't you forget it, mister," she tells him. 

"Could never forget," he answers, and her smile is wider as she decides he's definitely about to drop off.

As his breathing slows and deepens, she can't help thinking that she hadn't expected today to end with her sharing a bed with the Director of SHIELD, but, all things considered, it's not a bad ending to the day. And she still has hopes of persuading him to tell her what's going on with him, because she's more convinced than ever that he needs her help.

"I've got you, Phil," she whispers against his shoulder, then she closes her eyes and allows sleep to claim her too.


End file.
